Praying for Those Who Lead and Shepherd Us

The warning in the book of James to teachers is sobering, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (3:1). Some of that “greater strictness” is seen in the responses of church members and the greater community to a teacher’s sin. These days, it seems like the whole world leans in to watch and remark about a church leader’s fall from grace. When a church leader or pastor falls into sin, we hear about it instantly and read about it over and over on social media. We shake our heads in sadness and think, “Not again.” We discuss among ourselves how such sin could have been prevented, how the church should respond, and may even secretly wonder about the leaders of our own church—will they too stumble into sin?

Paul asked the church in Thessalonica to pray for him and his fellow workers (1 Thessalonians 5:25). To the church in Colossae, he wrote, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak” (4:2-4).The writer to the Hebrews, after calling them to obey their leaders and submit to them (3:17), wrote “Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things” (verse 18)...

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A Prayer for When the Future is Uncertain

One of the things I often fear is the future. I worry about what might happen, what could happen, and what I will do if any of the scenarios I've imagined takes place. I play out these situations in my mind, like a disc set on repeat. I try to anticipate what will happen and plan for every possibility.

In our culture today, there is much uncertainty about the future. Fears often trigger other emotions, including despair and anger and much of it is played out on social media. In truth, there is much to fear in our lives and in our world. The unknown future can seem dark and filled with danger. We wonder if we can handle it. We wonder how we can endure. From our children's health to paying for college; from job security to who runs the country; from prayers unanswered to relationships under strain; we worry about what could happen and what we will do when it does. 

David wrote, "Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident" (Psalm 27:3). Psalm 27 is a song and a prayer of trusting God in the face of fears. We learn from this Psalm that our confidence is based on God's unending protection, "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (vs. 1). True safety is found in God's presence, "One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple" (vs.4).

The ultimate fulfillment of this Psalm is found in Christ, the one who conquered our worst fears at the cross. He is our light and salvation. Because of Jesus, we can come into God's presence with confidence and hope. As Paul wrote in Romans, "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (8:31-32). If God sacrificed His own Son to save us from our sins, how would he not also be with us in the fears we face today?    

Dear friend, whatever you fear this day, go before the throne of grace in confidence because Christ has made the way for you. Cry out to God, give Him your fears, worries, and cares. Ask for salvation, rescue, and deliverance. Instead of despairing over what could or might happen, run to the One who holds the world in the palm of His hand. Turn to the One who turns the hearts of kings (Proverbs 21:1). Rest in the One who doesn't let a sparrow fall from the sky unless he so wills it (Matthew 10:29). Find your peace in the knowledge that He is the Alpha and Omega, the One who knows the beginning and the end. Nothing in your future will surprise your God because it is all under His sovereign rule and care. And because you are His, all things will work toward your ultimate good (Romans 8:28).

A Prayer for When the Future is Uncertain

Father in Heaven,

I come before you with my stomach twisted in knots. My heart is pounding, my head hurts, and I can't find any rest. 

I open my computer and all I read is bad news. The discussions, debates, articles, and arguments all join together like a loud clanging that I can't escape. The future seems bleak and dark. I'm worried for myself and my family. I fear what the future holds. I wonder what life will be like for my children and my grandchildren. 

Then I think about the struggles in my particular life and I can't catch my breath. What will we do if jobs are lost? What will we do if relationships aren't restored? What about the challenges with our children? What about the call from the doctor about the tests? What if the worst happens? What if????

I come before you as the psalmist did, weary, worn, and frightened. I come before you because you are King and you rule all things. I come before you because you are my Father, my Abba. You adopted me as your child and have given me every privilege that comes with being a part of your family. I come before you because you are my Savior. You alone can rescue me from fear, sin, temptation, and all evil. I come before you because you are my Provider, Jehovah Jireh. You created all things and own all things. All I have comes to me from your generous hands. I come before you because you are my Redeemer. You alone can redeem and restore all that is broken in my life and in the world around me.

Forgive me for turning my gaze from you and looking at the frightening things happening around me. Forgive me for forgetting that you are with me. Forgive me for not trusting. Forgive me for not crying out to you sooner but trying to conquer my fears in my own strength. Forgive me for not living in complete dependence upon you.

Father, hear the deepest cries of my heart. Rule and reign over your Kingdom, turn the hearts of kings, and may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Raise up godly leaders, teachers, pastors, and people who love you and your Word. Use your people to spread your gospel across the earth. May we be the salt and light you instructed us to be. 

In my life Lord, give me a peace that passes all understanding. Though I don't know what will happen with all that troubles me this day, help me to trust you. Help me to remember that you are not surprised. Help me to remember that nothing will happen today that takes you off guard. You are not asleep or too busy but are actively involved in all the cares of my life. Help me to wait and watch for your glory. Help me to obey and do the right thing in the moment, knowing you are there in all the moments to come. 

Most of all, help me to remember Jesus, the One who cried out in the garden on the night he was betrayed, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 13:46). I thank you that "for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). Even now, he intercedes for me—what a marvelous truth!

I pray all this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Praying God's Story

Scripture has instructed and formed my prayer life in a myriad of ways. I’ve learned from the Lord’s Prayer the glorious truth of what it means to pray “My Father” and “Thy Will be Done.” Paul’s prayers have taught me to look beyond immediate physical needs and desires and to the deeper spiritual needs of the heart. The psalmist’s raw honesty has taught me to come to the throne of grace just as I am.

A perhaps lesser known prayer I’ve learned from Scripture, yet just as important is praying through God’s story, the story of redemption.

A Prayer of Despair

In the book of Habakkuk, the prophet cried out to God because of the egregious sins of God’s people. Idolatry was rampant and the prophet could not understand why God had not done anything about it. Then he learned that God would indeed intervene and in the most unexpected way: through the Babylonians. As Habakkuk worked through his confusion and heard more of God's plan, he responded in prayer...

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A Prayer for When Life is Disappointing

Some days our plans just don't come to fruition. All that we expected and looked forward to goes awry. We struggle and push forward only to fall back down again.

And we wonder, why?

The world tells us that we can do whatever we put our mind to do. If we wish hard enough, we can click our heels and end up wherever our heart desires most. There are some Christians who say the same thing, that Jesus is our spiritual candy machine, dispensing dreams and hopes at the push of a prayer. They say that God wants us to be happy and wants us to have everything we've ever wanted. We just need to believe and pray harder.

But the reality of our Christian life speaks otherwise. Disappointment is part of life in this fallen world. Things don't work the way they are supposed to. People let us down. Hard things happen. As believers, we shouldn't be surprised when things don't work out, when we face difficulty, or when life is disappointing. That's because Adam fell into sin, we all fell into sin. The imprint of sin is on everything. Even the earth itself groans with the weight of it. We apply for a job and are told we aren't qualified. We work hard for a promotion only to have someone else get it. We've turned thirty and there's no ring on our finger. We finally have enough money to buy our first house, only to be outbid by someone else. The pregnancy test comes back negative. We feel left out of community in our church. Our children struggle in school, choose the wrong friends, or have no interest in spiritual things. The ministry we've worked so hard to create never gets off the ground. 

Indeed, the list of disappointments in this life are too many to count.

But there's gospel hope even in the midst of our disappointments. As Jesus said, “In this world you will have sorrow, but take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Jesus said we will have sorrow. We will have disappointments and heartaches. Anyone who tells us otherwise is preaching a false gospel. But Jesus also pointed to our hope, "I have overcome the world." The disappointments of life in this fallen world remind us that our Savior has come. He has fought sin and death and won. He broke the power of sin, cancelled our debts, and secured our eternity with him. Our hope and joy and contentment are not found in the things of this world but in Christ and what he has accomplished for us. 

In fact, these disappointments we experience rather than being walls we can't climb, instead become doorways to something else entirely. They become opportunities for change. The change we need most: heart change. They are opportunities to draw near to God, to seek his face, and to find him as the greatest desire of our heart. 

God is preparing us now, in this life, for eternity. He uses our struggles and challenges to sanctify us and make us holy. He is making us increasingly more like Christ by stripping away the layers of sin and removing the counterfeit loves in our heart. So when disappointments come, we can ask ourselves, "What might God be doing?" "What do I need to learn from this?" "How can I seek him in this?"  And rather than despair over our disappointments, we can remember that what disappoints us now will in the end make us more like our Savior (James 1:2-4).

Is life disappointing you today? Cry out to God in prayer.

Father in Heaven,

I come before you with a heart weighed down by disappointments. Life hasn’t turned out like I expected. I feel let down, like I’ve been failed in some way. I don't know what to do with these disappointments. Part of me wants to complain, part of me wants to give up in despair, and part of me wonders, Why do I even bother?

I guess my question is, Why is life so disappointing? Why can't anything go the way it should? Why can’t I make any headway? Will I ever reach my goals or see an end to these constant uphill battles?

Yet even as I ask these questions, your Spirit prompts me in remembrance of your word. I know why life is disappointing. I know that it’s not supposed to be this way. You created everything to work together in perfect harmony. But ever since that day when my first parents ate the fruit you told them not to eat, life has been marred and broken by sin. Disappointments rule the day. Everything from the earth itself, to my body, to relationships, to my dreams, they all fail to work the way they are supposed to.

Father, forgive me for complaining about my situation. Forgive me for wallowing in my self-pity. Forgive me for my discontentment. Yes, I know why life is disappointing and I should not be surprised. But what do I with those disappointments? How do I wake up every day knowing that life will not work the way it is supposed to and that a struggle or trial will appear at some time in my future?

Your Spirit prompts me again and I remember your Son. The Man of Sorrows. He knew the disappointments of this life. Your word says, "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not" (Isaiah 53:3). He willingly entered this dark world, filled with brokenness, pain, sin, and sorrow. He took on the same weak flesh that I wear. He experienced everything I experience. Yet he did not sin. He did what I cannot do. He woke up every morning knowing that it was one day closer to the day he would give up his life for me and he willingly took those steps forward. For me. And then when the time had come, he took on all my sin at the cross, suffering the curse I deserved. In that moment, he reversed the curse that started the day Eve bit into the flesh of that forbidden fruit.

I thank you Father for providing a way out of that curse. I thank you that because of your Son, I have the hope of heaven and eternity with you forever. I long for the day when all things will be restored to its rightful place, where there will be no more disappointments and sorrows and I'll be finally freed of my sin forever.

Until then, I live in this in-between time, where Jesus has won the victory but skirmishes still remain. Though he has conquered the power of sin in my life, the presence of sin still remains. Disappointments remain. I continue to face trials and challenges.

Help me Father to have an eternal perspective. Help me to see my disappointments in light of what Jesus purchased for me at the cross. Help me to seize those disappointments as opportunities to draw closer to you and not away from you. Help me to learn from them. Help them to shape me more and more into the image of your Son. Help me to see Jesus in them and to see his love and grace for me.

I want to maintain the tension between knowing why there are disappointments and knowing that they will one day come to an end. I want those disappointments to drive me to you. Help me to hunger and thirst for you, more than for anything else. Help me to see that only you can comfort my disappointed heart, only you can fill up my emptiness, only you can give me the joy I long for. Holy Spirit, strengthen me for this fight. Give me gospel joy even in the midst of failed expectations. Prompt my mind and heart to always remember Jesus, the Man of Sorrows who conquered sin and death to bring peace to the chaos, healing for the broken, and forgiveness for sins.

In the name of Jesus I pray,

Amen.

A Prayer for the Weeping Heart

A couple of weeks ago I traveled out of state to speak to a group of ladies on the topic of my forthcoming book. My talk was titled, The Lost Art of Lament. I spoke about the difficult and hard emotions of life such as fear, sorrow, worry, and abandonment. I shared how God's word shows us how to give voice to those emotions, how to cry out to him for help, and how his word reshapes our emotions for his glory as we go through the process of lament. It was a fruitful time of ministry and serving the ladies of that church. 

The night I returned home from my trip, my grandfather had a massive stroke, fell, and broke his hip. After receiving the news, we drove three hours away to visit him in the hospital. I wept when I saw him lying on the hospital bed, weak, frail, and helpless. Our family cried and prayed together. I spent that week saying my goodbyes. My grandfather ended up going into hospice care and passing away within the week.

All too often, the things I write about are things I am working through in my own life. And learning to lament is no different. The irony did not escape me that I had just taught a group of women the art of lament and now I would have to apply the very same things in my own life. 

Loss hurts more than any physical pain ever could. I knew one day I would face this loss and I also knew it would hurt. It hurt more than I imagined. But through studying and writing about the laments, I also know that there is hope in the midst of my heartache and loss. For the believer, joy is often intermingled with deep sorrow. Like the writers of the laments in Scripture, I know that God is my fortress, my deliverer, and my salvation. I know that he listens to my cries and catches all my tears. I also know that through Christ, though weeping will remain for the night, joy comes in the morning. 

If your heart also weeps, this prayer of lament is for you:

"I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow..." Psalm 6:6-7

Dear Father,

I come before you today with a heavy heart. Sadness overwhelms me. I feel surrounded by a dense fog that I fear will never lift. Like David, "my tears have been my food day and night" (Psalm 42:3).

But I know that I must come before you. I know the only cure for this despair and sorrow I feel is to be in your presence. The psalmist wrote that in your presence there is great joy. I am clinging to that promise with a white knuckled grip. Just as the psalmist cried out to you from the pit of despair, I too pour out all these thoughts and feelings at your feet.  

My heart hurts. My eyes sting from the steady flow of tears. My mind is filled with memories of times past, making my heart ache all the more. I need you, Lord. I need your help. I need your strength to get through even the very next moment. 

Forgive me for the ways I have not glorified you in my grief. I know that this sorrow I feel is not wrong, for Christ shed tears of grief at his friend Lazarus' tomb. But I also know that in my sorrow I have had sinful thoughts and feelings that I need to confess. Create in me a clean heart, O Lord. 

In the midst of this darkness, help me to see your light. I know that you are familiar with grief. I know that Jesus was a "man of sorrows" who "for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). He did that for me so that I could become your child. Thank you, Jesus for suffering and bearing my griefs. Thank you for taking on my sin. Thank you for making a way for me to come into the Father's presence. And thank you that one day, you will return and bring an end to all sorrow and weeping. Oh, how I long for that day! Maranatha, Lord Jesus!

For however long this season of sorrow lasts, I pray that you would show me more of your love and grace. Help me not to run from whatever you want to do in my heart. Help me to trust that you are at work and to rest in your faithfulness. I want to say along with David, "I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul" (Psalm 31:7).

Father, grant me gospel joy; help me to rejoice in Christ even as I grieve. Envelope me with the peace and comfort only you can provide. As the days move into months, may this burden lessen. As the months move to years, use me to encourage and bless someone else who must walk a similar path. Help me to point them to you as the God of all comfort.

I know that you are always with me and that your love never ceases. Help me to find refuge in you and no where else.

In Jesus' name I pray,

Amen.